GG O'Brien

Aoife O'Brien farms above the water and is, on the darker evenings, among the most respected sean-nos singers in the west, the old ornamented songs learned from her grandmother across a turf fire. Radio crews drive out to record her and are made to help with the fencing first. Between games she hums quietly. Never a tune she can name afterwards, and when somebody mentioned it she refused to believe them until they played it back. At the cash tables the humming has become the crew's tell. It stops a moment before she doubles, and she has yet to be persuaded of that either. She rides every swing, doubles out of pure instinct, and treats a bad roll as a verse breaking off.